Nothing But Trouble may be the stupidest movie ever made by anybody you ever heard of. [22 Feb 1991, p.3F]

Ronald Bass' predictable screenplay gives Roberts no brains at all, which is an injustice. [08 Feb 1991, p.3F]

The photography is gorgeous, the action is predictable but fairly exciting and young Ethan Hawke is winning in the lead role [26 Jan 1991, p.3D]

Not Without My Daughter, based on the true story of Betty Mahmoody, presents a strong picture of the struggle of a mother and daughter trying to leave Iran together. The film succeeds very well in creating suspense over their situation without coating it with undue sentimentality. [12 Jan 1991, p.5D]

Warlock is one of those awful movies that serves a purpose: On a rainy day it's a way to keep dry, and most of the film is so dark that it's easy to nod off during the duller parts. [06 Mar 1991, p.5E]

It's a brilliant film, written tightly enough so that practically every word is important. Add a large cast that blends into a perfect ensemble, plus direction that gives every shot some meaning, and you can't ask much more. [25 Jan 1991, p.3F]

The movie is going to make a lot of people mad, too - the ones who liked the book. If you missed Tom Wolfe's scathingly satirical best seller about the greedy society of the 1980s, you will probably find yourself bored by the tepid, badly miscast screen version. You may leave the theater a little confused as to why there was so much controversy during the filming of what turns out to be a silly, almost innocuous Hollywood farce. [21 Dec 1990, p.3F]

Winona Ryder, rather than Cher, is the real star of Mermaids, and her fine performance as a hormone-stunned teen-ager is the main reason to see this otherwise mildly entertaining, somewhat muddled comic melodrama. [14 Dec 1990, p.3F]

Eastwood also directed, in a plodding, heavy-handed style that leaves little to the imagination and less to the sense of humor. Every scene is as predictable as the chase that precedes or follows it. [07 Dec 1990, p.3F]

Rappeneau and Jean-Claude Carriere, who combined on the most recent adaptation and screenplay, have opened up Rostand's work far more than could be done on a stage - and it works brilliantly. [26 Dec 1990, p.3F]

As a realistic horror movie, Misery is effective. If you like Stephen King books, you will probably like Misery. However, I kept hoping that Reiner and Goldman would do more with the material. [30 Nov 1990, p.3F]

Three Men and a Little Lady is by no means great comedy, but it is enjoyable nonsense, significantly better than the original movie with its overdose of cutesy-poo gags. [25 Nov 1990, p.7C]

The Rescuers Down Under is further evidence that the Disney organization has regained its magic touch with animated features. [16 Nov 1990, p.3F]

A generally absorbing, sometimes harrowing look at the violent rise of twin brothers named Kray to the top of the London underworld. [09 Nov 1990, p.3F]

When Child's Play 2 isn't dwelling on some atrocity being performed on a character nobody cares about anyway, it commits the ultimate horror genre transgression: It's really, really boring. [12 Nov 1990, p.3D]

Prince is a puzzle. Unfortunately, in Graffiti Bridge, he isn't a very interesting one. The main problem may be that most of the music in this sequel to Prince's 1984 musical Purple Rain is mediocre, mainly derived from rap and funk but without the energy those forms generate when they are presented raw. [06 Nov 1990, p.4D]

A highly sensual but not very believable love story between a 43-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, and not much else. [19 Oct 1990, p.3F]

The sweeping scenery, made even more thrilling by Basil Poledouris' score, makes up for the slow moments. And Selleck and Rickman are equally convincing in their respective roles as the undisputed good guy and bad. [19 Oct 1990, p.3F]

Winona Ryder, who stars as brooding teen Dinky Bossetti, is the one good thing about ''Roxy.'' She has talent enough to transcend the script: I actually cared about the ending, when Dinky finds out whether Roxy Carmichael is her real mother. If only getting there had been more fun. [18 Oct 1990, p.6E]

Memphis Belle is a great movie of men in combat, and the bonding it provides. At the same time, it shows the awful face of war so quietly that it speaks with great volume. [12 Oct 1990, p.3F]

A beautiful movie, probably more erotic than any mainstream film ever made and yet never remotely pornographic, at other times hilariously funny. [05 Oct 1990, p.3F]

One of the best adult suspense films of the year. [28 Sept 1990, p.3F]

Texasville is much less memorable than The Last Picture Show, but it is well worth seeing, particularly if you loved the original movie and are curious about what happened to the people in it. There are some slow spots, but not too many. And there are more laughs than tears, although, as country music fans know, it is often hard to tell the difference. [28 Oct 1990, p.6C]

On the whole, director Phil Joanou and writer Dennis McIntyre have done a first-rate job of giving us believable characters acting believably in a believable (if horrific) situation. [05 Oct 1990, p.3F]

Ordinarily, one decries the violence in the streets, in life or art - or rationalizes that violence on the screen is a healthy outlet for man's inhumanity to man. But there's no such highfalutin psychology in The Killer. The film is just plain outlandish - and anyone who doesn't get the hyberbole should have a 99-year lease on The Farm for the Bewildered. [16 Aug 1991, p.3F]

Foley's direction approaches perfection, almost always avoiding thriller cliches and showy distractions in favor of a crisp yet imaginative visual style. After Dark, My Sweet delivers the goods as a crime movie, but it is a fascinating character study as well. [14 Sep 1990, p.3F]

Estevez couldn't decide what he wanted: a doofus comedy, a serious political statement, a mystery, a Bowery Boys' knock-off. The result is sophomoric. [27 Aug 1990, p.5D]

Using a screenplay by Allan Scott, Roeg directs with care, blending fantasy and whimsy with a chilling touch of evil. It works and it works well. [21 Feb 1991, p.4E]

Exorcist III asks for the dark recesses of your imagination. It's not an intense stomach-churner, but is more menacing to the mind of the beholder. [18 Aug 1990, p.1D]

Taking Care of Business gives little but doesn't take much away, either. It's not a film where you fret about whether everything is going to work out, and you know all the dangling strings are going to be tied in fancy bows by the end. [22 Aug 1990, p.5E]

Sometimes brilliantly original, at other times dull and formulaic, Mo' Better Blues is well worth seeing - for jazz and Spike Lee fans, it's a must-see - but it often fails to engage us on a deep emotional level. [03 Aug 1990, p.3F]

A generally entertaining Western with some striking images, Young Guns II is significantly better than the original Young Guns. [02 Aug 1990, p.4E]

A rare summer movie that is both exciting and thought-provoking. [27 July 1990, p.3F]

The Freshman is not the kind of movie where one wonders about plot twists or logic. One enjoys Brando and Broderick, and chuckles at a considerable amount of comedy. [27 July 1990, p.8F]

To me, an ordinary - but often exciting - adventure tale became a sordid look at American society and the American military, with a sickening defense of the-end-justifies-the-means philosophy. [20 July 1990, p.3F]

Unfortunately, not only was I disappointed with the lackluster animation, but I was also bored with the flatness of the characters and story. And if that wasn't enough to throw cold water on warm cartoon memories, screenwriter Dennis Marks forces the audience to listen to a bunch of forgettable, bubble gum tunes by Tiffany, who plays the voice of the Jetsons' daughter, Judy. [12 July 1990, p.6E]

Die Hard 2, which is far and away the best of the big summer action pictures, is an almost perfect blend of suspense, thrills, human drama and, perhaps most important, comedy. [6 July 1990, p.3F]

I liked the first film. I found it imaginative, and I thought Paul Verhoeven's direction was fascinating. Robocop 2 is just another sequel. [22 June 1990, p.3F]

Betsy's Wedding is what summer pictures used to be, light and sweet and brief as cotton candy. [25 Jun 1990, p.5D]

Warren Beatty's new tour de force about the ax-jawed detective is generally fun to watch. Visually, it's brilliant. Dramatically, it's OK. [15 Jun 1990, p.3F]

One of the wildest and funniest satires since the original Airplane. [15 Jun 1990, p.3F]

'Back to the Future Part III is somewhat overlong and a little slow in getting started, but on the whole it provides an entertaining and emotionally satisfying conclusion to a memorable series. [25 May 1990, p.3F]

Twenty or 25 minutes of good air-action sequences, otherwise dull. [17 Jun 1990, p.7F]

The movie falters once in a while, but Williams, whose frenetic pace had to drive the cinematographers crazy, is again impressive. There are serious moments in and around the comedy, and the comedy is delightful. [18 May 1990, p.3F]

Moves along quite entertainingly for a while and then begins to get swallowed up by its own high (and high-tech) concepts. By the end, what had been a rather amusing, zany chase comedy starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn has turned into a bizarre and totally ridiculous free-for-all in a zoo, with crocodiles slithering and tigers roaring and piranhas chewing up people. [18 May 1990, p.3F]

A FEW mildly erotic soft-core sex scenes separated by long stretches of very pretentious, bad dialogue and some travelogue shots of Carnival in Rio: That's about it for Wild Orchid. [25 May 1990, p.6F]

The Nanny is special effects at their most vulgar, with a thin, silly plot line that is there only to give the special-effects folks a place to start. [30 Apr 1990, p.5D]

Q&A is about 20 minutes too long, and it sometimes gets confusing, but Lumet, who has been making powerful films since Twelve Angry Men in 1957, has not lost his strength. [27 Apr 1990, p.3F]

A generally entertaining movie. Given the material, however, it probably should have been better - somehow, few of the scenes in the movie stick in the memory the way they do in Willeford's book. [20 Apr 1990, p.3F]

CRAZY PEOPLE is a one-joke movie. It's a pretty good joke: Slightly unbalanced people write ads that tell the absolute truth about products, and the products sell like crazy. But it isn't good enough to make us care for long about a mental-institution romance between Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah that has the feel of ''David and Lisa: The Sit-Com.'' [13 Apr 1990, p.3F]

IF you loved ''Hairspray,'' you'll probably like ''Cry-Baby.'' John Waters' latest teen-age musical spoof is entertaining. But it lacks some of the satiric edge that made ''Hairspray'' rather outrageous, although it was quite tame compared to some of Waters' earlier movies. [6 Apr 1990, p.3F]

It's moderately entertaining until about halfway through, when it gets totally out of control. [16 Mar 1990, p.3F]

A remarkably cold re-telling of a tale that, when we encountered it before, was shattering in its emotional impact. [16 Mar 1990, p.3F]

JOE VERSUS the Volcano starts out like a house afire and simmers along quite adequately until about two-thirds of the way through, when it begins running out of fuel. From there, it sputters fitfully and dies at the end. Despite the problems in the third act, this comic fable is, on the whole, quite enjoyable. [9 Mar 1990, p.3F]

This is an entertaining, sexy, cleverly constructed thriller. [09 Mar 1990, p.3F]

The overall direction of the movie may be strongly polemical, but its real strength comes from the resonance of a hundred subtle moments. [04 May 1990, p.3F]

This is a sad and gallant chapter, and a first-rate movie. [12 Jan 1990, p.3F]

The screenplay, by Jim Harrison and Jeffrey Fiskin, from Harrison's novella, might have made a good B movie, but Scott refused to let that happen. He was out to make another A movie, and made an F movie that also is excessively and unnecessarily violent. [19 Feb 1990, p.5D]

If Midler weren't involved, and if she weren't surrounded by a good ensemble, the whole enterprise probably would fall into a watery grave. But Midler carries off the role. [2 Feb 1990, p.5F]

With its excellent, offbeat cast, its sprightly pacing and its goofy tone, Tremors is the kind of movie that propels you out of the theater with a grin on your face. [26 Jan 1990, p.3F]

The movie won't stand up to much analysis, but it delivers a fair amount of electricity, and Gere plays his nasty character with a great deal of relish. Internal Affairs is fun, in a rather perverse way. [11 Jan 1990, p.3E]

McNaughton directs well, and with power, but celebrating murder is a waste of his talents. [17 August 1990, p.3F]

It takes awhile for the contemporary moviegoer to adapt to the deliberate pace and the lack of dialogue, but ''Sidewalk Stories'' becomes harder and harder to resist as it goes along, and the ending in a small park filled with homeless people is quite effective. [11 Jan 1990, p.3E]

The result is a movie with a lot of hysterically funny lines (including a nod to St. Louis) shooting through the banal, timeworn plot, relieved occasionally by a well-wrought sketch. Director Steven Spielberg tries to stir this mixture, but it's just too flour-y. [22 Dec. 1989, p3F]

A brilliant, ironic, black-humored story that shows what happens when the American Dream becomes the American Nightmare. [12 Jan 1990, p.3F]

This is Daisy's story, and Hoke's story. It's a beautiful story, filled with warmth and compassion. It was a glorious evening of theater when I saw it, and it's just as glorious on the screen. [12 Jan. 1990, p.3F]

Penn and de Niro are wonderful as the changelings, trying to adjust to a community of goodness after one of badness. They speak English with an accent as thick as an elephant's hide and they make faces that communicate far beyond words. They work well under the direction of Neil Jordan, who steers the movie on its fine course between comedy and drama. [17 Dec 1989, p.7]

The screenplay is such a mess that the cast cannot overcome it, and the result is a major disappointment. [18 Dec 1989, p.3D]

Blaze is essentially a farce with moral overtones. Newman appropriately plays Long for laughs, but he also shows us a complex man with some admirable characteristics and much sadness inside. [15 Dec 1989, p.3F]

Director Susan Seidelman becomes heavy-handed on occasion, but mostly the comedy works to perfection. [10 Dec 1989, p.7DZ]

Christmas Vacation reminds me of a golden retriever I used to know: dumb and sloppy but kind of likable as long as you don't expect any new tricks. [1 Dec 1989, p.3F]

As good as the story is, and as brilliant as director Jim Sheridan is in his first feature, it is Daniel Day-Lewis who is transcendent as Brown. [2 Feb 1990, p.3F]

A well-made, strong three-generation saga that deals with a number of interesting - and sometimes uncomfortable - topics. [27 Oct 1989, p.3F]

Next of Kin is a fast-paced, crisply directed, very entertaining genre movie. It has a lot more style and wit than most of the serious fare that's around. [25 Oct 1989, p.3E]

When a film is based on history, especially a moment in history that almost everyone knows, a built-in major problem is that there is no tension for the climactic scenes. To make it successful, the writer and director must find other places to insert drama, to create tension, to give viewers the unexpected. Maybe Roland Joffe forgot. [24 Oct 1989, p.3D]

An Innocent Man is a fairly effective melodramatic thriller, and the prison scenes are powerful. [06 Oct 1989, p.3E]

If there is a criticism of this generally superb documentary, it would be that it focuses a little too much on Monk's mental condition and could have devoted more of that time to exploring his highly innovative music. But if ''Straight, No Chaser'' succeeds through its psycho-biographical focus in interesting more people in the music of this brilliant man, then I cannot really quibble with the approach. [27 Apr 1990, p.3F]

Black Rain is a brilliant visual tour de force wrapped around a fair suspense plot. The result is a movie that is so exciting to look at that you tend to forget that the story is rather hackneyed, except for the setting. [26 Sep 1989, p.3D]

A Dry White Season is a powerful movie. It is sometimes horrifying and hard to take, although there also is considerable ironic humor in the Clarence Darrow-like trial tactics of the lawyer. The cast, clearly dedicated to the project, is uniformly excellent, and there is no sense in the skillfully built, suspenseful flow of the story that this is Palcy's first major feature. [06 Oct 1989, p.3E]

Sea of Love is a tough, sexy thriller, one of the most exciting suspense movies of the year, and undoubtedly the funniest. Al Pacino and John Goodman are terrific as detectives teamed up to catch a serial killer who apparently is choosing victims from personal ads in a New York weekly. [17 Sep 1989, p.11F]

With the broad satiric hands of Christopher Guest and Michael McKean as two of the screenplay authors (Michael Varhol is the other), and Guest as director, there are overtones of This Is Spinal Tap, although the final result is less successful. The spoof of Hollywood manners, morals, talent and success hits with some real humor. [15 Dec 1989, p.3F]

AFTER the first 10 minutes or so, there are few surprises in The Package. But director Andrew Davis, given a suspense script with little actual suspense in it, keeps this espionage tale moving right along, and Gene Hackman, as usual, is a plus. The result is a moderately entertaining if predictable action film. [25 Aug 1989, p.3F]

FIVE WRITERS. Count 'em, five. Five men (I mourn for my gender) employed as writers of a screenplay. Five human minds. Five human imaginations. And the result is Turner and Hooch. Never have so many worked together to create so little. [1 Aug 1989, p.3D]

SHAG has a good cast with a lot of interesting family connections, but unfortunately it doesn't have much of a script, and Zelda Barron's direction lacks zip. The result is a ''teen-age girls coming of age'' flick that is considerably less successful than ''Mystic Pizza,'' ''Dirty Dancing'' or ''My American Cousin,'' the three good little films that pretty much established this post-feminist genre. [25 July 1989, p.3D]

James Bond might as well be any of a dozen movie cops. For whatever reason, writers Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum have given us a hero without the suavity, the urbanity, the sophistication of the James Bond who set these particular movies apart. And when Bond is just another hero, the result is just another action movie. It's sometimes exciting, but it misses all the lovely touches that previous films in the series have provided. [14 July 1989, p.3E]

Lethal Weapon 2, a sequel, is better than the first film, Lethal Weapon. Not only better, but far better, for the following reasons: Joe Pesci. Less (if not much) violence. Danny Glover doesn't try to be Bill Cosby at home. A screenplay that is funny. Joe Pesci. [07 July 1989, p.3E]

John Avildsen directs from Robert Mark Kamen's elementary script with the simple understanding of the ancient battle between good and evil where the victor is never doubted - for long. [03 July 1989, p.3D]

WATCHING Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis is disconcerting, to say the least. Quaid mimics Lewis' piano playing in superior style, struts across the stage like the ''petty player'' of ''Macbeth,'' and shows all the right amount of arrogance, but his wide-eyed stare becomes extremely irritating. Great Balls of Fire, which looks at a small part of Lewis' life, offers a slightly uncomplimentary view, but it tends to trivialize his shortcomings, almost excuse them as boyish pranks. [30 June 1989, p.3E]

"Star Trek V'' begins and ends well, but is something of a muddle in the middle. [9 June 1989]

The best thing about Renegades is a beautifully choreographed car chase early in the movie. After that, the movie creeps along for 20 minutes or so while the two principals grope toward buddyhood. Then, with bonding accomplished, the action picks up somewhat, but never really catches fire. [07 Jun 1989, p.3E]

The new Clint Eastwood movie, Pink Cadillac, might approach mediocrity if it were about half an hour shorter. At almost two hours, it is, to paraphrase a line in the movie, Snooze City. [26 May 1989, p.3F]

TAKEN AS a Hollywood remake of Japanese movies based on Westerns, Road House assumes a certain style that makes the film not half bad. Of course, that leaves it still not half good. Without provenance, the film becomes just a way to provide work for the man who produces the sound of fist hitting flesh. Given its lineage, however, Road House makes sense. Everything is here but the dog at the end of "Yojimbo" walking out of town with a bloody arm gripped in its canines. [19 May 1989, p.3E]

Remarkable...For All Mankind is a lovely film. Brian Eno's soundtrack is majestic without being overly sentimental, and Reinert's choice of images ranges skillfully from the ironically ordinary - astronauts eating, listening to country music and teasing one another about personal quirks - to the awe inspiring. [2 Feb 1990, p.3F]

Not a great comedy, or even, much of the time, a very good one, but the few belly laughs and the relationship between the two stars make it worth seeing. [16 May 1989, p.4D]

Pretty good entertainment, but not an outstanding time at the movies. [17 Aug 1989, p.6E]

Jim Belushi can be a pretty funny guy, but this time he should have heeded the old show-biz warning about staying away from animal actors. [02 May 1989, p.4D]

EVERY TIME Loverboy veers toward the predictable or the situationally comedic, it rights itself. The film merits much more than a passing sigh as yet another flick for the teen audience. [2 May 1989, p.4D]

With few exceptions, the dialogue's high point is when it's only dull. [15 Apr 1989, p.4D]